Last week the Senate saw a rare debate between the differing government benches on whether the so-called stabilisation and the stifling growth policies should continue or whether it is now time to look instead to focus on growth and employment generation. I won’t even go there to explain what stabilisation policies entail or have achieved, as so far we have seen nothing but inflation, de-industrialisation, investment decline or rather its exodus, unemployment and poverty! Anyway, while it was good to see some sensible treasury voices raise the real concerns and advocate change, what is painful is that despite gross economic destruction over the last 3 years, we are still debating whether a change is even necessary or not! Ironically, just a few across the border, the story is emerging as completely opposite to what we have here - laudable, but rather painful in many ways for patriotic Pakistanis who are not ‘imported’ and have all their stakes here.

September saw the Indian government release its latest growth numbers on the Indian economy. Data for the first quarter (Q1) came in at an astonishing 7.8% - even its central bank (RBI) had projected it at around 6%, at best. The scorching pace of the Indian economy is particularly striking, because it is despite an inclement global economic environment ravaged by war and now increasingly facing the threat of a super el-Nino weather........

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